Museum InfoMedia Room

Detroit Institute of Arts elects new Board Members: New members include appointees of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county art institute authorities

Thursday, November 29, 2012

(Detroit)—The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) announced the election of 11 members to its board of directors at its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 14. As part of an agreement following the DIA’s successful millage in August, art institute authorities established in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties each appointed two members to the board: Wayne county, Hubert Massey and Amy DeBrunner; Macomb county, Lillian Demas and Donald Ritzenhein; and Oakland county, Jennifer Fischer and Thomas Guastello.

“We welcome all our new board members and the talent, experience and enthusiasm they bring,” said Eugene A. Gargaro, DIA board chair. “With the vote of confidence shown by the millage, the DIA is on the path to financial long-term stability, and we look forward to the new and current board members helping us achieve that goal.”

DIA Board Members – Class of 2013

Amy DeBrunner

Amy DeBrunner is executive director of the Grosse Pointe Artist Association and former executive director at Creative Aging. DeBrunner is also the project manager for the Grosse Pointe Park School System Historic Greenhouse Restoration and volunteers for MariElders, Mariemont Elementary and Cincinnati Country Day School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of Indiana.

Lillian Demas

Lillian Demas is a recently retired educator who taught at Macomb Community College and was principal at four Macomb County schools: International Academy of Macomb, Armada High School, Henry Ford II High School and Jeanette Junior High. In her four years at the International Academy of Macomb, her students recorded the second highest ACT scores in Michigan. During her tenure at Henry Ford II, the school was awarded the 2004 Blue Ribbon High School and was named a 1999 Outstanding High School by US News and World Report.

Andrea Dickson

Andrea Dickson is a former executive vice president and chief of staff at Wayne State University (WSU). She served as co-chair of the labor and employment department at Butzel Long, PC, was chairperson of the State Bar of Michigan, Labor and Employment Law Council and is an elected fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Dickson is a graduate of Smith College and WSU School of Law. She was a trustee of the Detroit Historical Society and has chaired boards of the DIA’s Founders Junior Council and Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Jennifer Fischer

Jennifer Fischer has served on a number of nonprofit boards and chaired multiple fundraisers. She serves on the Oakland County Art Institute Authority and is on the boards of the Detroit Zoological Society, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Fischer is a former board member of the Kennedy Center and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has a background in marketing, which has contributed to the success of many DIA fundraising events, including the 2007 Arts Alive! Gala, celebrating the grand opening of the new DIA.

Antoine Garibaldi

Antoine Garibaldi is president of University of Detroit Mercy. Prior to UDM, he served as president of Gannon University in Erie, PA, where he more than doubled the endowment and completed the largest campaign in Gannon’s history, raising $40 million. Garibaldi earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota and his bachelor’s degree from Howard University. He was an administrator at the National Institute of Education and has served on boards and committees of the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards’ Council of Presidents. He chaired boards of the Council of Independent Colleges and the American Association for Higher Education.

Thomas Guastello

Thomas Guastello is an attorney and owner and president of Center Management, a commercial real estate business in Birmingham. Guastello served in Michigan’s House of Representatives from 1969 to 1974 and the Michigan State Senate from 1975 to 1982. He was a member of the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents, the Mackinac Bridge Authority and Metro Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau. Guastello is chair of the Oakland County Art Institute Authority.

Mary Kramer

Mary Kramer is publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business and vice president of Crain Communications. She has been an editor at the Kalamazoo Gazette, Grand Rapids Press, Ann Arbor News, Greenwich Times and Buffalo Courier-Express. She graduated from Grand Valley State University, where she serves on the board of trustees, and has honorary doctorates from three universities. Kramer holds leadership roles with Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, Detroit Sports Commission and Detroit Regional Chamber. She was the first woman elected president of the Detroit Athletic Club and has held leadership roles with Michigan Colleges Foundation, Metropolitan Affairs Coalition and Leadership Detroit. She is also a trustee of the Skillman Foundation.

Hubert Massey

Hubert Massey is an artist whose frescos adorn the walls of the Detroit Athletic Club and the Richard DeVos Building at Grand Valley State University. He has studied at the Slade School of Fine Art–University College London and participated in a workshop taught by former apprentices to Diego Rivera. Massey has worked as an instructor in art programs and workshops with the Detroit Council for the Arts, Detroit Summer Youth Employment Program, the Advanced Gifted and Talented Program (a collaboration between Wayne State University and Detroit Public Schools) and the Center for Creative Studies (now the College for Creative Studies).

Linda Orlans

Linda Orlans is owner and managing partner of Orlans Associates, PC, a founding shareholder of Orlans Moran PLLC in Boston and a shareholder of e-Title Agency, Inc. Orlans received the George N. Bashara, Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University College of Law and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Central Great Lakes Award. She helped initiate the First Words Society through Beaumont Hospital Foundation and was a founding member of Women Executives in Banking. Orlans was a fundraising chair for Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan, where she is on the advisory board. She has supported The Parade Company and held leadership roles with the Michigan Opera Theatre.

Irvin ReidIrvin Reid is president emeritus of Wayne State University. Under his leadership, WSU completed a major expansion of the Law School, the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy, three residence halls, a welcome center and a fitness center. Reid was instrumental in creating TechTown, an incubator for growing new business and revitalizing the economies of Detroit and Michigan. He was also president of Montclair State University in New Jersey. Reid earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University and a master’s and doctorate from The Wharton School of Business and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. Reid sits on several boards, including the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and has served on boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Handleman Company, First Tennessee Bank of Chattanooga, NatWest Bank USA and Fleet Bank (New York).

Donald RitzenheinDonald Rizenhein is assistant vice president, academic human resources, and professor of communication at Eastern Michigan University. He has been provost and vice president at Macomb Community College, and has held positions in alumni relations and development, including interim vice president for advancement at Wayne State University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a doctorate. Ritzenhein has served on the boards of the Anton Art Center, the Michigan Advancement Council and WSU Alumni Association, and is a former trustee of the Mount Clemens Community Schools Board of Education.

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The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), one of the premier art museums in the United States, is home to more than 60,000 works that comprise a multicultural survey of human creativity from ancient times through the 21st century. From the first Van Gogh painting to enter a U.S. museum (Self-Portrait, 1887), to Diego Rivera's world-renowned Detroit Industry murals (1932–33), the DIA's collection is known for its quality, range, and depth. The DIA’s mission is to create opportunities for all visitors to find personal meaning in art.

Programs are made possible with support from the City of Detroit and residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.